20 piastres

If you ever decide to doubt the power that one incredible idea can do for a movie, you have desperately got to see this! Twenty Bucks is one of the most creative ideas ever made into a movie and will definitely earn a few laughs for the writing alone. While there is no one main character here, the story revolves around a twenty dollar bill. The movie opens as the money enters circulation, and ends when it is mangled and ready to be burned. The life of the money is the story of the movie, and it's just delightful! As it changes hands from one person to the next, it has a profound impact on some people, and no impact on others. At times, it appears that it is a good luck charm, and at others a curse sent from God. Steve Buscemi, Brendan Fraser, Gladys Knight, Elizabeth Shue, Christopher Lloyd, and William H. Macy all get their hands on the money, and there are several others as well.

Apparently, this screenplay was written several years ago by Andre Bohem and nothing was ever done with it. After quite a long period of time, Andre's son Leslie got ahold of the script and modernized it a bit, and the end result is magnificent! While there aren't any acting performances here that are going to melt your hearts, each star is really enjoyable to watch in one way or another. The casting director did a fantastic job of lining up so many recognizable faces, and I found it hilarious that the stripper at the bachelor party (Melora Walters), also played the funeral director near the end of the movie! I knew I had seen her face somewhere before and couldn't see it until I saw the credits. When I realized they were the same person, I busted out laughing, and yet was still able to see the incredible irony of the whole situation.

If you are watching this because you like one of the actors, then you very well could be disappointed by what you see. No one of the actors here has a tremendous amount of screen time, but all are quite good to watch. If you just want to see something different than the normal hollywood crap, then this is absolutely perfect!

The problem with movies that actually try not to insult your intelligence is that they are totally inaccessible and make you feel like you're sitting at a table in the high school cafeteria with the cool kids . . . they'll let you watch, but you should not be under any illusion that you belong. This is not the case with Twenty Bucks. I caught this one on UPN last Sunday and was amazed. It's a fascinating story of a $20 bill's journey in and out of the lives of people to whom it changes hands. Sometimes it's only there for a moment, sometimes it's there for days, sometimes it doesn't go where you might think it would go, but it's always an interesting story. This is a wonderful anthology film that manages to introduce many characters and get you brought up to speed on their lives in a brief period of time. And check out those credits! You know who these actors are, and it's obvious that no one was letting their ego get in the way of telling the story. It's a wonderful, lovingly crafted movie that is well worth your time to see.

The variety of stories that surround the 20 bucks makes the movie non-Hollywood. I like the independent, non-Hollywood style of this particular movie with a plot that actually tells something and people who proof that you do not need a gigantic budget to create a refreshing film.

This movie was everything I thought it would be and wasn't-- all at the same time. Like the plot says it's a movie about the life of a twenty dollar bill and how it is woven amongst the lives of everyday people, but the movie presented this in a very interesting way. The bill does go around but we see it come back around and almost make it back to a few who once had possession of it. This makes the journey of the bill much more intriguing. Strong acting does this movie well too. My favorite scene was easily with Christopher Lloyd and Steve Buscemi as two crooks. Elizabeth Shue and Brendan Fraser's stories are sad, but we can relate to them as normal people. It is interesting how the director shows so much of each character's personality and background with so little screen time. Throughout the entire film, there are recognizable faces and none of them disappoint. Watch out for a enjoyable cameo by Jeremy Piven too. Two thumbs up for the director for reviving an old script.

Twenty Bucks is, quite simply, a movie about a $20 bill. You follow one bill in particular from one owner to the next since it first makes it into the general population from a regular ATM machine. This bill makes it's way through good people and bad, from homeless people to rich tycoons to drug dealers and back again. In this bill's life, it gets lost more than I would believe a normal $20 bill would. They are usually protected pretty well to be blowing around in the street constantly. Also, the bill stayed pretty much in the same area and even back and forth through the same hands a few times. All this may be unusual but when thinking on the subject, each bill's lifetime is as unique as our own and while unusual, not impossible.

Just like with our money, some people hold on to some bills longer than others and these people in the movie are the ones with the longer stories. Easily the most entertaining story was the one with Frank (Steve Buscemi) and Jimmy (Christopher Lloyd). Frank is a scam artist until persuaded by Jimmy he can make quite a bit more his way, robbing convenience stores. I felt like I wanted more from these two, which is probably why it was the best. It did not overdo it and make me sick of the characters.

This is is the type of movie you can recommend to those who have seen it all. It will keep you entertained for 90 minutes if nothing else. 7/10